Campaigners will be gathering signatures in Bracknell town centre today

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Campaigners battling to save Heatherwood Hospital have stepped up their fight following the temporary closure of the hospital’s maternity unit.

Plans for an online petition are now being drawn up in a bid to get as many signatures as possible to save the troubled hospital in Ascot and a public rally is planned for this weekend.

Campaigner Marc Green said: “The campaign is stepping up all the time and the support we are getting seems to grow. There have been many stories about the Trust – the three unexplained deaths at Wexham Park and the chief executive leaving.”

Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust announced last Tuesday the Ascot Birth Centre is temporarily closed due to long-term staff sickness and maternity leave.

The announcement left many mums-to-be in a state of a shock and a public meeting in support of saving the hospital was held in Windsor last Wednesday, September 28.

Marc said: “The meeting was successful in terms of the number of people who arrived and we had a number of midwives from the hospital who said they were poorly informed about what was going on and one wasn’t even told it was closing down temporarily.

“We are confident despite the fact there are still a lot of people who don’t know so we decided to step up our efforts because if people are ignorant the consultation will be a poor one and a sham.”

Terry Pearce, chairman of Defend Our Community Services (DOCS), added: “With no leadership from our Member of Parliament, Bracknell residents are faced with declining services and the prospect of having to travel miles for treatment, yet we are a growing town with an ageing population, we deserve better.

“We applaud the local press for taking up the issue, we must now step up the campaign to keep Heatherwood open and not allow it to be stripped of services. We also demand that the birthing delivery centre is opened immediately.”

Protests over the future of Heatherwood is the latest setback for the trust, which is investigating three unexplained deaths at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough in August. One relates to a patient’s death in the accident and emergency department, while the other were on wards.

A trust spokeswoman said: “The investigations into these three incidents are ongoing, and it would be inappropriate and would contravene patient confidentiality to comment any further at this stage, before the full root cause analysis and the final report is complete and shared with the families concerned.”

DOCS will be in Bracknell town centre today gathering names for its petition, which has about 3,000 signatures. A public rally in support of the hospital is also due to take place in car park six of Ascot Racecourse from 11am tomorrow. Anyone who would like to get involved in the campaign can email marc_p_green@yahoo.co.uk or find the Save Heatherwood Hospital group on Facebook.